Sunday, March 2, 2014

Media Planning Part-3 for BBA D-III Paper-7


Media planning is an exercise to find the best medium or combination of media that will produce the best overall effect relative to the needs of the advertised brand. Media planning in general should involve optimum benefits in the long run. The media mix, in terms of balance of usage for TV, radio and print media or other types of media vehicles, should be such that the best utility of the advertising budget is obtained, and duplication of audience is avoided as far as possible.

There is no single best media strategy that is applicable in varied situations or sometimes even in similar situations.

Media strategies also differ because of changing situations. For example, the state of the economy changes just as consumers tastes change. Advertisements for luxurious cars would therefore not be effective during times of economic depression. Similarly, advertisements about blue jeans, when jeans are not in fashion, would not have much impact. To select the right media and to search the right target audience for a desired response the advertiser or his advertising agency should go for a systematic media planning.

STEPS IN MEDIA PLANNING           

The following are the steps in media planning:

1. Decide Target Market : It is necessary to decide specific market where planned efforts can be directed.

2. Media Objectives : Media objectives are often stated in term of reach, frequency, gross rating points and continuity.

(a) Reach : It refers to the number of different persons or household exposed to a particular media schedule at least once during a specific time period.

(b) Frequency : It refers to the number of times within the specified time period that an average person or household is exposed to message.

(c) Gross Ratings Points : It refers to the total weight of a media effort in quantitative terms. GRPs are equal to each multiplied by average frequencies. E.g. 80% of the homes watch TV and they are exposed on average 2.5 times within the 4 week period. The total impact or GRPs = 80 × 2.5=200.

(d) Continuity : It refers to the timing of the media insertions.

3. Selection of Media Types :

Every media plan requires that specific media types to be selected. There are a number of advertising media available to the advertiser for advertising the goods etc. These may be grouped under the following heads:

1. Press Advertising Media - (a) Newspapers and (b) Magazines and Journals.

2. Outdoor or Mural Advertising Media - (i) Posters, (ii) Advertising Boards, (iii) Sandwich Boards, (iv) Electric Display, (v) Vehicular, (vi) Sticker, and (vii) Sky Writing.

3. Direct Mail Advertising Media - (i) Circulars, (ii) Price-lists, (iii) Booklets, (iv) Leaflets, and Folders, (v) Business Reply Envelops and Cards, (vi) Gift Novelties, and (vii) Personal Letters.

4. Broadcast Advertising Media - (a) Radio, (b) Television

5. Promotional Advertising Media - (i) Window Display, (ii) Show- Room, (iii) Exhibitions and Fairs, (iv) Interior Display, (v) Trade Shows, (vi) Samples, Coupons and Premiums etc.

6. Miscellaneous Advertising Media - (a) Cinema and Cinema Slides, (b) Speciality Advertising, (c) Purchase Point Advertising, and (d) Video Advertising etc.

4. Selecting Specific Media Vehicle : Once a decision is made on media types, specific media vehicles within each medium must be chosen.

 

Media Mix: Once the media selection is decided upon, the next step is to determine the mix of the media one must use. This will be arrived at by considering the advertising companys marketing objectives, its target market, media characteristics, and its matching with the target market. The overall advertising budget also influences the nature of such mix, in addition to the available audience. For example, to achieve certain advertising objectives, one may require to use a mix of 50% newspaper, 25% magazine and the rest 25% television. However, more than one mix may fulfil the advertising objectives, and yet be within the overall budget cost. But one should aim at balanced mix. Some advertisers prefer to concentrate on one media type mix whereas others like to have a widely varied mix. While the former offers the advertiser an opportunity to make a great impact on a specific market segment, the latter, being an assortment of media, can deliver different messages about the same product in different market segments more effectively.

 

Media Buying : The specialist who is the counter part of the media sales representative is the media buyer. Most of these specialists work for advertising agencies, although some are retained by advertisers and some work for firms of media specialists who offer media buying services to both advertising agencies and advertisers. Media buying service is likely to be more personal and direct.

The media buying specialist helps to decide what media should be used for a product, purchases the media, and controls and evaluates the performance of the media purchased.  There is growth of Media Buying Units (MBUs) throughout the world. Advertising Agencies merge and form a group and then set up an independent MBU to buy advertising space. The MBU benefits not only the advertising agencies, and the advertisers because of cost-effective rates, but also the media sellers. The media sellers can negotiate for rates, with one media buying unit on behalf of a group of ad agencies.

5. Allocation of Funds : The planner should than decide on the amount of funds that would be allocated to each media type and vehicle.

6. Media Scheduling : Media scheduling could be used depending upon the requirements of the advertisers.

 MEDIA-VEHICLE CHOICE

After indemnifying the various advertising medias, as available for a company, the subsequent managerial task is to evaluate each media vehicle against certain criterion and then only to decide which of the particular vehicles are suitable for him. For such a decision, he has to evaluate the available media vehicles against certain criterion. The major vehicle evaluation criterion are as follows:

1. Coverage: It is the most important and powerful criterion for evaluating vehicle media. Coverage refers to the number and spread message outlets provided by the media vehicle. When the media vehicle provides large coverage, the changes of message exposure to customers is also greater. Thus a media vehicle providing larger coverage should be more acceptable. For example, in case of a newspaper, the coverage refers to the circulation of that particular newspaper. But this is not enough. We must also consider other criteria which are as follows.

2. Consumer Confidence: It is also an important criterion for evaluating the selection of a vehicle media. Consumer confidence refers to the credibility of media in the mind of target customers. It is a relevant criterion for evaluating a media vehicle since the credibility of advertising message is positively related to the media vehicle’s credibility. For example, a recent study in India revealed that newspapers and magazines are considered to be the most credible of all media, scoring high on usefulness and information.

3. Reach : Reach as an evaluation criterion refers to the vehicle’s access to different homes or individuals over a given period of time. In case of press media, it is indicated by readership which is arrived at by multiplying circulation of the paper with the average number of readers per copy.

4. Cost : Cost is also an important criterion against which each media vehicle choice should be evaluated. Cost refers to the money spent on using a particular vehicle media. In order to make a decision, it is suggested that the advertiser should make out an inter-vehicle cost comparison.

5. Timing : The last but also equally important criterion for evaluating vehicle media choice is the timing of advertisement. The reasons for the importance of the decision may be two-fold - (i) Seasonalability of product sales, and (ii) staggered effects of advertising. The advertiser should, after considering these two elements, decide on the scheduling of advertisements to improve the effectiveness.

SIGNIFICANCE OF REACH, FREQUENCY AND CONTINUITY IN MEDIA PLANNING

Media planning means devising a programme in such a manner as to optimally use the advertising space, the broadcast time, or other advertising media, in exposing an advertiser’s message to potential consumers. There are basically three concepts that are generally incorporated in most planning processes:

(a) Reach : Advertisers are mainly interested in the percentage of the total market that they can reach their messages through the media in a given area of coverage. Reach refers to the total number of households that will be exposed to a message through a particular media vehicle over a set period of time. This period of time may vary from advertiser to advertiser, but generally, four weeks is considered adequate for calculation purposes. Reach is usually expressed as a percentage of the total number of households in a prescribed area that have been exposed to the advertising message. For example, if there are a total number of 1000 households and 200 of these have been exposed to the message then the reach is calculated to be one-fifth or 20 per cent.

(b)Objectives of Greater Reach : The purpose of reach is optimal exposure. The idea behind the strategy for greater reach is that the advertisement be received by as many people as possible in the first instance.

 A strategy for greater reach would be desirable under the following circumstances :

1. When a new product is introduced the idea is to initially expose the product to as wide an audience as possible, irrespective of whether they immediately remember the product or not.

2. When introducing a new use for the product in order to expand its share of the market. If a product is already known but a new aspect of the product needs to be advertised, then greater reach is desirable. For example, if a well established brand of toothpaste adds mouthwash ingredients to it, it would call for greater reach so as to inform a wide audience about this additional feature.

3. When seeking to increase the recognition of the company through a campaign or to promote the image of the company. For example, the advertising campaigns for Godrej made the name of the Godrej Company, a household name for quality and variety of product.

4. When the creative message is so dramatic that most people will react to it and retain the message after only the first exposure. For example, when a famous film star is promoting a product or when the message is unique, eye-catching, attention getter, then reach becomes more important than the frequency.

(b) Frequency : Frequency is the average number of times in a give period that each person has been exposed among the target audience by the brand’s advertising. If the message reaches the audience by the brand’s advertising. If the message reaches the audience just once, is it enough to influence their buying or should they be exposed to the message more than once in order to reinforce the message? If so, then how many times should a household be exposed to the same message? Thus, frequency refers to the number of exposures to the same message that each household supposedly receives. Since the frequency may differ for different sets of households, an average frequency is calculated by the following formula :

Average frequency = Total exposures for all households Reach

If the total number of exposures is 400 and the reach is 50 then the average frequency is 8. This means that the average household is exposed to the same message eight times.

Objectives of Greater Frequency: Frequency primarily means repetition of the same message and the objective of greater frequency is to promote interest and desire for the product on a continuous basis instead of a simple awareness. Even though frequency is achieved at the expense of reach, it is advisable to go for frequency under the following situations:

1. When the competitor is using high frequency to reach the same segment of the market. For example, in the case of soap and detergent commercials, a competitor has a distinctive edge, if he continuously reinforces the quality and utility of his product in the customers minds by repeated advertisements. This offensive can only be countered by frequency of advertising rather than reach.

2. When a reaction is desired within a limited time period. For example, a sale on for just one week would necessitate advertising the same message on the radio or TV repeatedly or in daily newspapers every day. Continuous repetition of a message that includes the warning „sale ends on Friday, provides a sense of urgency. Similarly, the message accompanied by „first come, first served would excite more immediate sales for a given product.

3. When the message is not easy to remember, for example, if the advertising message consists of prolonged explanation of the product’s features, then the audience should be exposed to the message a number of times so that people become aware of all aspects of the product.

4. If the product or brand is not sufficiently differentiated from products and brands of competitor. For example, a distinctive brand of Maruti of Premier can does not necessarily require greater frequency. But a specific brand of soap or toothpaste that does not have any distinguishing characteristics does require greater frequency.

(c) Continuity: The message should be relayed continuously to the potential households. A long period of abstinence from advertising (that is, lack of exposure) will jeopardize the

advertisement investment of the firm. It is necessary to have a continuous programme of advertising. When customers continue to hear about the product and the company at the time of „need. Continuity has a cumulative effect of advertising on the customer. Continuity refers the length of time the advertisement runs, or whether it is periodic.

1. “Media planning is an exercise to find the best medium to produce the overall effect related to the advertised brand.”

Discuss.

2. Explain the following vehicle evaluation criterion:

a. Coverage

b. Reach

c. Timing

3. Define the following terms:

a. Media Buying

b. Media mix

c. Continuity

d. Reach

e. Frequency

ZIPPING AND ZAPPING

 Meaning :We can trace the concept of zipping and zapping to the era of VCRs and remote controls, each of these devices brought a change not only in the TV viewing habit but also led to a proliferation in the number of TV channels. When VCRs launched they also introduced time shifting viewing pattern and the remote control helped evolve TV viewing beyond a family setting. By the 1960s TV sets were cheap enough to afford more than one per household and with that it also brought about the beginning of different channels that catered to more varied taste. The remote control made it easier for the viewers to zap through commercials i.e. viewers could now change channels during the commercials thereby avoiding ads. Some experts argue, ad avoidance was in

existence even before the remote, people would leave the room during the commercial break. DVRs also cause similar concerns, how attentive are the viewers to the ads, if at all? But time shifting helps find new audiences as well, people who otherwise would have missed the show. VCRs gave viewers more control, and so do DVRs that have helped viewers watch more of programming they like, i.e. they are therefore more likely to be engaged hence more willing to pay attention. However, we are still not addressing the problem of ad avoidance behaviour.

Could Game play Combat TV Ad Zapping and Zipping

Game play during commercials may be an effective way to get more people to pay attention to sponsored ads on broadcast television. Interestingly, it is very rare to see any type of contest or game-like promotion to reward people for watching commercials, even though that behavior is highly desirable to broadcast advertisers.

Can game play be used as incentives for attentive T.V. commercial viewing? Could games help television advertisers cultivate the interactive engagement and motivation that lead to direct response after ads are viewed?

Are commercial games rare because games were not effective in this role in the past? Or is it because so many marketers assume any type of game has to involve an expensive prize or legal consultation to make sure the promotion is on the right side of gambling and lottery laws?

What types of games would be compelling during live broadcast commercial breaks? What issues would need to be addressed to prevent people who did not watch the commercial from simply scraping the commercial contents from a web resource after the actual broadcast?

Zapping and Zipping Commercials into Extinction :

Since the development of the home VCR, advertisers have been concerned with zipping-fast forwarding through commercials during recordings of sponsored television programs. Newer technologies have only increased advertiser paranoia that television viewers are prerecording shows and then skipping the commercial breaks. A similar concern was raised with the advent of remote controls which let users change the channel during commercial breaks with very little physical effort (zapping).

When advertisers complained, the television networks produced studies that showed viewers were already avoiding annoying or boring commercials by leaving the room or otherwise diverting attention during commercial breaks regardless of the remote control or recording devices. The general result was that big brands had to make more interesting commercials or utilize product placement and other clever ways to integrate ad messaging into television programs.

More Watchable Commercials = More Expensive Commercials Commercial production values are often very good. Feature film quality t.v. commercials are not uncommon today and some commercials are enjoyable enough that they can function as short form programming (these top-shelf commercials tend to go viral online too). Many commercials have been episodic or featured some type of comedy skit to keep viewers from zapping or zipping away.

There are a number of advertising media available to the advertiser for advertising the products. But not a single media can satisfies all the needs of various time periods.

Media planning means devising a programme in such a manner as to optimally use the advertising space, the broadcast time, or other advertising media, in exposing an advertiser’s message to potential consumers. Systematic media planning is the responsibility of advertiser or the advertising agency. It is a proper process which includes the steps like deciding target market and media objectives, selecting specific media vehicle, allocating funds etc.

QUESTIONS

1. What is Media Planning? Explain the process involved in Media planning

2. What are the steps in Media Planning

3. What are the Major Media Types? Explain in brief.

4. What can be the Possible Media of Business Advertisement? Explain each in Brief.

5. While Making Media-Vehicle Choice (s) Coverage is but an Inadequate Decision-Input. Do you agree? What other Decision Inputs are required for Making Media Vehicle Choices?

6. What is the significance of (a) Reach, (b) Frequency and (c) Continuity in media planning?